Andhra launches e-Rythu to boost cashless farm ecosystem

• The Andhra Pradesh government has launched a mobile platform, e-Rythu (e-farmer in Telugu) which will enable small-scale farmers to market their produce at reasonable prices.

• Its main aims to digitize agriculture marketplaces, payments, workflows, and provide farmers an easy and secure way to buy, sell and receive payments for agricultural products via their feature phones.

• The platform has been developed by MasterCard Labs for Financial Inclusion in Nairobi, Kenya, and has been customized for India used by the Labs team based at Pune.

Benefits of this app

• This will help farmers looking to sell their produce goods to connect with the right buyers more efficiently in the local language and receive the best possible prices.

• Due to the small scale, and long travel distance from the places where they sell, most small and medium farmers in Andhra Pradesh suffer income losses.

• Additionally, since these farmers do not have a formal credit history, it is difficult for them to access any formal financial services.

• It will make horticulture markets more transparent for sellers, buyers, and other stakeholders, and also pave the way for financial inclusion of millions of small and medium farmers in the state.